Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

A psalm of David.

⁸ Moses bowed down to the ground at once and worshiped. ⁹ “Lord,” he said, “if you are pleased with me, then go with us. Even though these people are stubborn, forgive the evil things we have done. Forgive our sin. And accept us as your people.”

¹⁰ Then the Lord said, “I am making a covenant with you. I will do wonderful things in front of all your people. I will do amazing things that have never been done before in any nation in the whole world. The people you live among will see the things that I, the Lord, will do for you. And they will see how wonderful those things really are. ¹¹ Obey what I command you today. I will drive out the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites to make room for you. ¹² Be careful. Do not make a peace treaty with those who live in the land where you are going. They will be a trap to you. ¹³ Break down their altars. Smash their sacred stones. Cut down the poles they use to worship the female god named Asherah. ¹⁴ Do not worship any other god. The Lord is a jealous God. In fact, his name is Jealous.

¹⁵ “Be careful not to make a peace treaty with the people living in the land. They commit sin by offering sacrifices to their gods. They will invite you to eat their sacrifices, and you will do it. ¹⁶ You will choose some of their daughters as wives for your sons. And those daughters will commit sin by worshiping their gods. Then they will lead your sons to do the same thing.

¹⁷ “Do not make any statues of gods.

¹⁸ “Celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread. For seven days eat bread made without yeast, just as I commanded you. Do it at the appointed time in the month of Aviv. You came out of Egypt in that month.

¹⁹ “Every male animal born first to its mother belongs to me. That includes your livestock. It includes herds and flocks alike. ²⁰ Sacrifice a lamb to buy back every male donkey born first to its mother. But if you do not buy the donkey back, break its neck. Buy back all your oldest sons.

“You must not come to worship me with your hands empty.

²¹ “Do your work in six days. But you must rest on the seventh day. Even when you are plowing your land or gathering your crops, you must rest on the seventh day.

²² “Celebrate the Feast of Weeks. Bring the first share of your wheat crop. Celebrate the Feast of Booths. Hold it in the fall. ²³ Three times a year all your men must come to worship me. I am your Lord and King, the God of Israel. ²⁴ I will drive out nations ahead of you. I will increase your territory. Go up three times a year to worship me. While you are doing that, I will keep others from wanting to take any of your land for themselves. I am the Lord your God.

²⁵ “Do not include anything made with yeast when you offer me the blood of a sacrifice. You must not keep any of the meat from the sacrifice of the Passover Feast until morning.

²⁶ “Bring the best of the first share of your crops to the house of the Lord your God.

“Do not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.”

²⁷ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write down the words I have spoken. I have made a covenant with you and with Israel in keeping with those words.” ²⁸ Moses was there with the Lord for 40 days and 40 nights. He didn’t eat any food or drink any water. The Lord wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant law. Those words are the Ten Commandments.

Jesus Is Brought to Pilate

²⁸ Then the Jewish leaders took Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor. By now it was early morning. The Jewish leaders did not want to be made “unclean.” They wanted to be able to eat the Passover meal. So they did not enter the palace. ²⁹ Pilate came out to them. He asked, “What charges are you bringing against this man?”

³⁰ “He has committed crimes,” they replied. “If he hadn’t, we would not have handed him over to you.”

³¹ Pilate said, “Take him yourselves. Judge him by your own law.”

“But we don’t have the right to put anyone to death,” they complained. ³² This happened so that what Jesus said about how he was going to die would come true.